Today's topic
Today on A.Vogel Talks Menopause, I take a closer look at six vaginal and urinary symptoms of menopause.
Menopause can have a huge impact on the vagina and also the urinary tract, and this can lead to many uncomfortable symptoms and some embarrassing symptoms that you might not want to talk to anybody about.
Urogenital problems are common symptoms of menopause and can involve the vulva (outside), vagina, and bladder. It basically affects this whole area, both inside and out.
1. Vaginal dryness
Vaginal dryness is a very common menopause symptom. Sometimes, it occurs on its own but other times, it can be accompanied by atrophy.
What happens here is that the vaginal walls become thinner, more brittle and can end up almost falling into each other. The vagina practically disappears. When this happens, you can get burning pain, irritability, extreme pain during and after sex and a general feeling of total discomfort that doesn't go away.
The main reason for this is your oestrogen levels falling. When oestrogen falls, it affects the production of mucus in the vagina. When the vagina starts to dry, that dryness then affects the vaginal walls. As the walls dry out, they become more brittle. There are several things you can do here.
What can help?
First of all, there is a supplement called Sea Buckthorn Oil which is really good for vaginal dryness and dryness everywhere else. The other thing I would also recommend is that when the vagina starts to dry, then that can affect the level of friendly bacteria in the vagina which will have an impact on vaginal health too.
To support your friendly bacteria, I recommend taking a probiotic. Look for a specific vaginal probiotic which you will be able to get from your health food shops.
Remember to drink plenty of water every day. Dryness, especially in the vaginal area, is often just due to your hydration levels being affected by your falling oestrogen, so remember to drink plenty of water.
2. Genital itching
Genital itching in and around the vagina can also be caused due to less mucus being produced. The mucus that's being produced helps to lubricate just outside the vagina too. If that starts to dry, then you can get irritation here too. You can get burning and thinning of the outer walls of the vagina and the labia.
If things start to dry, then that area is going to become even more sensitive to any kind of chemicals. This could be even things like toilet paper because a lot of toilet paper is bleached. You have got the chemicals in your washing powder that you're using to wash your underwear in.
If there are synthetic fibres in your underwear this can prevent air from getting in which can cause a rise in temperature. An increase in heat can cause more irritation and itching.
What can help?
For this situation, you could try St. John's Wort Oil. You need to make sure that it is a pure one because you don't want to be putting anything with any chemicals in it onto that particular area.
You can also try an organic aloe vera gel. Make sure there are no preservatives or other chemicals in it. If you're getting really hot and itchy, you can keep that in the fridge and it's very, very cooling.
I also recommend taking a vaginal probiotic in this situation as well. And just remember, this is one situation where big, baggy pants can often make a difference just because they allow the air to circulate that little bit better.
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3. Pelvic floor changes
The pelvic floor is almost like a sling of muscles going from one side of the hips to the other. This strap of muscles holds up the womb, the bladder and the bowel.
What can happen, unfortunately, is that these muscles can weaken during menopause. Especially if you've had children, they can have started to weaken many, many years before you get to menopause.
When these pelvic muscles weaken, the bowel, bladder, vagina and womb can shift position. When that happens, you get what's called a prolapse. This shift of organs can put pressure on the bladder, and you can end up finding that you're running to the toilet every five minutes. You may get lots of bladder infections as well.
What can help?
For this one, there's nothing really you can take supplemental herb-wise that's going to make a great deal of difference. The one thing that can be really, really helpful is Pilates. If you can find an experienced teacher, you can get instructions on how to do very specific pelvic floor exercises that can work extremely well.
There are a lot of classes now and I was speaking to a Pilates instructor a while ago and she was saying that prolapses are becoming so common in women at menopause age. Women are now seeking advice on them so there's a lot of Pilates instructors are holding classes specifically for the pelvic floor exercises.
Google a practitioner near you. Sometimes it may only take a few classes for you to learn these exercises, and then, you do them on your own on a daily basis. I've had women come back who say it's made such a difference to their quality of life after they've learned to do the exercises, so it's worth checking out.
4. Frequent urinary tract infections
Frequent urinary tract infections such as cystitis are very common during menopause.
Cystitis can be horribly painful so you likely go to the doctor to get antibiotics to clear it up. However, the antibiotics will also kill off the friendly bacteria in your vagina. These friendly bacteria in the vagina help to protect the opening of the urethra, which is the tube that goes up to the bladder. If you lose the defence of these friendly bacteria, then that leaves you much more vulnerable to repeat and secondary infections.
If the friendly bacteria in the vagina changes, you are also more likely to get thrush.
What can help?
You need to be able to break that vicious cycle of antibiotics, infection, antibiotics, infection.
In this instance again, it would be a vaginal probiotic to help. We also have a product called Uva-ursi & Echinacea Complex, which is licensed for cystitis.
You can also try unsweetened cranberry juice. The other thing is drink loads of water. Double your intake of water while you have something like cystitis because that will really help to flush all these horrible bacteria out of the bladder, and it can make you a lot more comfortable.
Yes, you may have to spend a couple of days running to the toilet a lot more often, but just drinking lots of water can speed up the whole healing process.
5. Increased urination
You haven't changed your drinking habits, but you suddenly find that you're running to the toilet twice as much. Very often, when you do go, you find that you only pass a little bit of urine and you get this terrible urge to go. It's really desperate but then when you get there, you're passing practically nothing. This is a really good indication of an irritated bladder.
The bladder is also a mucous membrane so as your oestrogen falls, the bladder is going to be affected. It can become weaker, and the inside wall of the bladder can become much more vulnerable to irritation. Falling oestrogen also causes general dehydration.
So, here you are in a situation where your bladder is more irritated generally. You are also getting dehydrated more easily and if you're not drinking enough water, then your urine can become very acidic and very concentrated. That will continually irritate your bladder and that is what makes you need to go.
What can help?
The really super easy treatment here is just loads of water. It will help to decrease the acidity of your urine and you will find that even though you're drinking more, you may well be going to the toilet less than what you do normally.
This is also a really good tip if you end up having to get up three or four times during the night - try drinking a little shot glass of warm water before bed, this can often be enough to keep your hydrated without affecting your bladder.
The other thing it can be is different foods and drinks. Things like caffeine, alcohol, fizzy drinks and high salt, sugar and spicy foods can all irritate your bladder further, so it's best to avoid these if you can until things settle down.
For an irritated bladder, we have a remedy called Cranberry Complex tablets which can also be taken as a preventative if you're getting repeat infections.
6. Incontinence
This is a really embarrassing one. You might find that you leak when you laugh, when you run, when you move, when you do your exercise classes. It can be a really horrible symptom. With this particular one it's often a combination of weak pelvic floor muscles and an irritated bladder. The bladder valve becomes so irritated that it doesn't shut properly and it doesn't hold the urine in the bladder which is why you get the leaking all the time.
What can help?
Obviously, double-check with this one. If you feel that you've got a prolapse, it's really important to get these things checked out by your doctor just to make sure that there's nothing else going on. For incontinence, Pilates is really the best thing, as well as making sure you drink plenty of water.
I hope you found this one helpful. It's quite complex and you can sometimes get a combination of these different symptoms all happening at the same time, which could make it that little bit more difficult to sort.
Hopefully, these tips will help and if any of you have other tips with any of these symptoms, then please share them.
Until next week, take care.
